Author: mike

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Blog Random Ideas

Brain sprinkle: LED Lava Lamps.

Was just thinking about how one would retrofit an old Lava Lamp to use LEDs. The classic Lava Lamp uses incandescent bulbs as both the light source and a heat source to melt and animate the wax inside. So, an LED replacement would require not only the light source, but also a heat source.

CREE makes high power LEDS which certainly put off some heat, but you’d really need a separate heating element to melt the wax. If this element or elements were digitally controlled, they could be pulsed to perhaps create variations in the thermal currents inside the bulb to give some sort of control over the wax motion.

The other thing you would be able to do is put in RGB LEDs, or even black light LEDs, which would give you the ability change colors, and maybe run different colors at once illuminating different areas of the glass enclosure.

This unit could perhaps be retrofitted into any classic Lava Lamp base, if you just made it in a bulb format. Newer lamps could be made with a redesigned base.

Of course, as with all ideas of this type, the next step is to search to see what has been done in this area already. And sure enough, the Lava company has an LED Lava Lamp, It’s really disappointing, though. Runs on Batteries, it’s all plastic, and has molded plastic in the shape of the wax bloop. Boring. https://lavalamp.com/product/ledll/

They also have this, an LED mini-volcano, which is probably closer to what I’ve described, but not something that could be retrofitted on a classic Lava Lamp.

And, they have https://lavalamp.com/product/llmyol/, a do-it-yourself Lava Lamp kit with a color LED base, stuff to decorate the lamp base and top, and different kinds of glitter to put inside. This is actually pretty close to what I’m proposing, but it appears to use different material for the motion, basically two types of oil that don’t mix rather than the classic wax. I should get one, it looks kind of fun. It’s battery operated, and pretty low-temperature, so very well-suited for kids.

Yup, this is where my brain goes when there’s laundry to be folded, and stuff that should be going to Goodwill.

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Blog Uncategorized

Sometimes healing from DV requires a trip to the dentist. You can help.

One aspect of domestic violence that is generally overlooked is that financial and physical abuse can lead to severe dental issues for survivors.

There are charitable foundations which match survivors with dentists who can help survivors with free or low-cost dental work.

https://www.givebackasmile.com is one such foundation.

This kind of assistance can be crucial in helping DV survivors recover a normal life. It’s hard to successfully interview for jobs or perform in a public facing job if you have damaged or missing teeth, and often poor dental health results in other health issues.

Note: will add more resources as I find them.

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Art Art Model Camp Burning Man

Art Model Camp at Burning Man 2023

Art Model Camp is returning to Burning Man for 2023. This will be our 15th appearance at Burning Man for our drawing salon. We’re once again located in the Alternative Energy Zone, and will probably be at the corner of 4:00 and F. (may be subject to change depending on placement).

You can see photos from past years on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artmodelcamp/. If you would like more information, we also have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064907041039.

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Blog

Meta: WordPress has changed a lot

Apparently I’ve missed some major feature changes to WordPress since I last actively edited this site. The tools now enable more control for editing site-wide, and what used to be called a “block” in WordPress seems to be different. Blocks used to be layout components in the site them, but now there’s a block structure to every post. Looks very powerful, but now I need to catch up. Starting with upgrading my theme.

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Apple Blog

WWDC wish list – 4 years later

Time flies, eh? WWDC 2021 is just about upon us, and so much has changed. For one, this will be the second consecutive remote WWDC, a format that I have found refreshing, especially for the keynotes. I don’t miss waiting in line and scrambling to find a seat, and WWDC sessions haven’t been especially good for live questions anyway. About the only part of the WWDC conference that I miss is the developer lab program.

But it isn’t just the format of WWDC that is different, WWDC is less and less the hardware announcement venue now, though I predict we’ll see an M1 iMac Pro or at least a larger format more powerful iMac, and maybe even the new Mac Pro with the M1 chip. Apple has gotten so good at rolling out its hardware announcements on its own schedule, that it didn’t even wait for WWDC to debut the latest iPads, and it rolled out the new M1 MacBooks without waiting as well. Building their own silicon is really going to allow them to release new products without worrying about the timing of Intel generations, conferences, etc. If this first wave of products is any indication, there will be some very powerful hardware coming out soon.

MacOS and iOS as platforms have gone through their own changes. Swift is prime-time now — few people starting a new app would choose Objective-C at this point, and the new ecosystem has SwiftUI as well as Combine. Apple also has a solution for cross-platform app development. We now have Face ID, crazy amounts of support for AR and Machine Learning, more security features, and more powerful and open cameras. There is increasingly a gap between the power of the newest hardware and the ability of the software development community to harness it in new ways. The engine underneath has gotten better and better, but where are the roads?

As I write this, final arguments are finishing in the Epic Games lawsuit against Apple. Epic thinks that the terms that it accepts on Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo app stores shouldn’t apply to mobile devices, for some reason. Any decision here is likely going to have impact on consumers, and I can’t imagine it will be positive. Apple’s ecosystem is no worse than others, and a lot better about customer privacy and security, at least in theory. They still need to get better at policing bad actors in the App Store, however. Third party App Stores won’t necessarily improve the customer experience. Most will be branded to narrow content for their owners, like an Epic store, or a Disney store. A broad app store on the platform has to have a substantial critical mass of content to make it.

I’ve been fairly out of the loop on what is likely to be announced at WWDC for iOS or Mac OS. We’ve seen machine learning creep its way more and more into iOS and Apple’s applications — the iPad text recognition is really good, and the Camera app is getting weirdly smart. But what access to these new technologies will really birth a new generation of apps and get them to capture the imagination of consumers?

Taking a look back at my wish list from 4 years ago, many of the things I wanted have not happened, though Apple has had to evolve its Developer Program somewhat even before the pandemic. That week of sending 1000 Apple engineers to SF for a week to talk with 5000 developers was always exclusive of many devs, even before the ticket lottery. I’m hearing that Apple is starting to host Developer labs in other cities, and has some specific outreach to some groups of developers in their local offices. It’s good to see that they are taking it seriously.

Apple TV and TVos have improved, but still lack automation or a screensaver app mode. There’s still not a super-affordable Apple TV option. But look at how many apps are available now that weren’t 4 years ago, and Apple TV+ has had some pretty good programming.

I don’t have really any wish list for this year, except perhaps a cheaper Apple TV, which isn’t likely to be in the cards given the most recent announcements. I’m hoping there’s a power-user version of the M1 iMac, or an M2 iMac, but it doesn’t have to be a iMac Pro. I’m hoping they announce big improvements to their Pro tools to really show off the new hardware, and demo at least one app on desktop or mobile which actually *needs* the hardware improvements they’ve been rolling out.

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iOS development iPhone Mobile News user experience UX

My WWDC 2017 Wish List

WWDC Keynote is tomorrow.  Keen to see what gets announced.  I’m always a bit perplexed at announcements of things like Apple Music at these events, since they don’t really put money in developers’ pockets.   Hardware announcements are somewhat more relevant, though not always.  However, the ecosystem is important, and Apple has opened up so much of it lately, which gives developers new venues (tvOS, iMessage), and helps Apple increase their services revenue.  That’s what I want to hear about, along with more information on what is possible with Apple’s tools and SDK.

Stuff I’d like to see:

  1. An expansion of tvOS to include a class of screensaver apps — I have app ideas that would work better as screensavers than apps that the user explicitly launches.  If you want Apple TV to be a hub, then you need to support it as such with features like alarms that wake it up and launch specific apps, the ability to designate apps as a screensaver.  I’d like my Apple TV to launch in the morning, perhaps playing an Apple Music playlist, or an app I’ve purchased that shows weather, traffic, or other stuff.
  2. Apple’s developer support really needs further expansion — I’d like to see more developer outreach via the Apple Store locations around the world. WWDC is inaccessible to most, so using the stores to help developers would be a big win, and help developers network and raise the level of software produced.  
  3. iOS for iPad really needs more features that focus on making tablet apps.  Split screen mode and picture in picture are great starts,  but I’d like to see some more really well thought out interfaces like the original Split Screen View Controller.  In particular, I think there’s a need for more dashboard-type apps on the tablet.   The big killer tablet app is still waiting to be released.
  4. Apple’s position has always been that apps should be so intuitive that the user can easily figure them out without a lot of special prompting or help.  This made sense in the early days, but now so many people use their mobile devices (especially tablets) to run fairly complex applications.  I’d like to see an on-boarding library added to iOS that implements tutorials, tool tips, etc. in a consistent way rather than having each developer cook up their own.
  5. I’d like to see some explicit support in Xcode for setting up and using test environments, staging environments, etc.  Every development house ends up implementing this in weird ways, and many of them end up leaving back doors in their code that could compromise user security.
  6. Xcode has a few application templates for setting up certain application types — I’d like to see more of them.
  7. I’d like to see an API for the services that comprise iTunes, especially the store, and a business model that would incentivize people to build specialty storefronts around the iTunes Store content.  For example, a movie store app for people who love horror films, or a jazz-focused app. This would be a great way to monetize an iBook or Newsstand app, as well as other types of apps.
  8. If you’re going to announce an Alexa type device,  can you make it one with a FaceTime camera that can be swiveled, so I can have a conversation with friends while working in the kitchen?  Or at least support FaceTime audio.   
  9. I want to be able to rent a video from my iPhone or Apple Watch and have it downloaded to my Apple TV while I’m at work or driving home.  I’d also like to be able to access these APIs as a developer, this would be great for workout apps, among other things.
  10. I’d really like some control over video rentals — my local network sometimes is too congested for streaming, so I’d like to be able to download some content.  There’s lots of storage on the AppleTV, but I have no idea how it’s used, or even if it is used.  Apple thinks that you shouldn’t have to care where the movie is, but in reality, not everyone has great consistent broadband, especially if you live in a city with a lot of apartments that can tax WiFi spectrum and Cable or telco bandwidth.
  11. I think it’s time for Apple to open up APIs for how iCloud photo sharing works — I find it hard to understand which photos from which devices I should be able to see where.  They should fix their own apps, but someone would make a lot of money on an app that makes this easy for users.
  12. I’d like to see more discussion of innovative apps and what’s under the hood.  Part of Apple’s role in WWDC is to show people what is possible with their SDK, and they could go farther towards that end.